Wednesday, September 29, 2010

It's like watching a horror movie

Its like watching a horror movie - Kevin Probst

Have you ever watched a movie that just kept you spell-bound. The normal plot would be a tragedy of mammoth proportions. A whole society is at risk. The dark clouds of utter destruction are lurking about. Just as the asteroid is about to hit the earth a hero ascends from the ashes. He has an idea that no one else thought of. He swings into action and saves all of mankind and they live happily ever after, forever indebted to their savior.

Sometimes I feel like I'm watching a horror movie. American society seems to be swirling in a huge vortex, like the one I see everyday in the white porcelain bowl in my bathroom. Our troubles are many: excessive government spending, a broken educational system, impotent churches, illegal immigrants, Iraq, Afghanistan. I could go on and on.

I don't know why Americans voted for the most left-leaning, most inexperienced man on the ticket when they elected a president two years ago. But I think they were caught up watching the movie. The fear they felt as the asteroid approached overwhelmed them emotionally and they made an irrational decision. A messiah rose out of the ashes. He said he had new ideas. He promised them hope, change and salvation. He declared he knew how to stop the whirling vortex. So, they threw themselves on this self-proclaimed messiah.

Now, millions of Americans are realizing that Clark Kent isn't going to transform himself into Superman. He declares the recession over but all the indicators say differently. Instead of grabbing the bull by the horns he has incessantly whined for two years about the problem he inherited. No man is perfect but the man elected president is bullish in his refusal to be responsible for any errors made. He spits in the eye of our friends and he kowtows to our enemies.

They arrived in Washington declaring "we are the people we've been waiting for." Like a team of players, isolated in a locker room, telling each other how great they are. They begin to believe the delusion and they step out onto the playing field thinking they are world champions, not because they have participated in the war, or even because they have won any major battles. They believe they are great because they convinced themselves they were. They promptly proceed to get their tails kicked by people who know how to live in the real world.

Now the rank and file are beginning to desert. A large dose of reality purges away the delusion. They have finally realized that it takes more than just a suit to govern a nation. The illusion that all they had to do was show up in Washington D.C. and the country would be miraculously transformed has now been shattered. You can't just show up with a dream, you have to have a plan to make the dream become real. You shouldn't choose a leader because of their age, or color, or gender. It is now more obvious than ever before that the primary traits needed to govern a country like ours is to be a person of substance and character.

Obviously, neither political party is inundated with such people. That's why instead of looking for a messiah, we should look to the Messiah and prayerfully ask for mercy and direction.